


Good Enough

by dontcallmeking



Series: Haikyuu!! Drabbles [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Basically Tsukki is upset about his progress and Daichi helps him out a bit, Friendship, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, platonic fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 08:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7706839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontcallmeking/pseuds/dontcallmeking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just because they’d won, doesn’t mean that he’d played his best. The thought haunts Tsukishima before Nationals.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Enough

**Author's Note:**

> A ficlet requested from vagarius who wanted daichi being caring/worried/protective over tsukki

_How many did I miss?_

_How many could I have blocked?_

The thoughts follow Tsukishima as he lays in bed, his mind playing on repeat the events of the game against Shiratorizawa. The movements of Tendou, the power of Ushijima, rests in the center of his eyes. He can’t stop seeing it. He missed, there, and there, and there must have been _something_ he could have done against their budding ace –

He rolls over and hugs his pillow to his chest and closes his eyes resolutely. _It’s not cool to be like this_ , he reminds himself. _The game’s over anyway._

_It’s only a club._

But that’s not really what it is anymore, despite himself. The tips of his fingers sting with the phantom memory of Ushijima’s ball hitting them, bouncing back to the ground in that final, successful block. There’s also the real, painful throbbing of the finger he’d injured as he went all out, for the first time in his life.

For Tsukishima, there’d never been a _need_ to try; he was always decent. Better than average, tall. He didn’t need to work at volleyball, he had it all from birth –but that feeling of success, when he’d finally blocked –

He can’t remove it from his brain.

He also can’t remove the feelings of guilt, (why did he get to go to nationals and not Akiteru?) the feelings of anxiety, (how could they even expect to win when they couldn’t beat Nekoma or Fukurodani?) and the feelings of worthlessness ( _How many did I miss?_ ). Tsukishima’s always hated the part of his brain that makes him _ruminate_ and _fixate_ on things beyond his control. He can’t do anything about Akiteru’s time at Karasuno, he can’t do anything about Kageyama’s genius –but he _wants_ to.

Tsukishima doesn’t like things that he can’t do things about, with minimal effort.

The next morning, he finds himself in the gym early –only Daichi and the idiot duo there –and he finds his eyes tracing the movements of Hinata’s leaps, trying to find a pattern in madness. He uses read blocking. That’s what he’s good at. He’s smart.

He wonders if he’d be stronger using guess blocking –is that were Shiratorizawa’s defense lies? (he can’t get rid of the intensity he felt as he pulled one over Tendou; it was exhilarating).

“Tsukishima,” Daichi comes over to him, looking a bit worried, “you look tired. Did you sleep badly?”

Tsukishima shrugs, unsure how to act in the face of Daichi’s concern. Sure, he knows that Daichi worries –but he’s not accustomed to it being directed at him, unless it’s due to him needing to ‘apologize’ for some asshole comment he’d made. “Yeah. Just excited from the game.”

Daichi smiles and clasps a hand on his shoulder. “Ready for nationals?”

Tsukishima shrugs again and pushes up his glasses. He doesn’t respond, only turns away, grabs a ball, and starts doing serving practice. He’s not too bad at serving, but after reflecting on the power of a good serve, it’s something he wants to work on. Understanding the serve will help him receive it. Besides, there isn’t really anyone else in the gym anymore that he can ask to practice receives with. Daichi probably has something to do and the idiot duo have gone off on their own, screaming all the way.

“Tsukishima,” Daichi says after he finishes stretching, “want me to throw you some balls to receive? We need to tighten our defense for nationals.”

Tsukishima bites his lip, because this is what he’s _wanted_ -more practice-, and without counting Nishinoya into the picture, Daichi’s the best receiver they have. He finds himself nodding and tossing the ball too Daichi. Daichi catches it easily. Daichi heads to the other side of the net and serves. It’s easy enough to receive, though the path of the ball once Tsukishima sends it over the net is wobbly.

Daichi picks up the ball and serves again. Tsukishima receives.

They do this multiple times, but Tsukishima still can’t shake the feeling that he’s _missing something_. That he’s not doing it right. The ball travels back over the net and Tsukishima scoffs.

“This isn’t helping, Sawamura,” he tells him. “My receives aren’t any better than they were at the beginning of the season.”

“Of course they are!” Daichi puts a hand on his hip from across the net. “You’ve improved by leaps and bounds this season. Frankly, you and Hinata have probably grown the most in proportion to your previous skills. I may not have a service ace like Oikawa, but my serves aren’t easy to receive, and you’re receiving them wonderfully.”

“I can’t send them to the setter’s position,” Tsukishima retorts. “I couldn’t do that at the beginning of the season either.”

“That’s because you’re not loose enough,” Daichi comes to his side of the court. “Lean more on the balls of your feet to prepare for the receive. You have to lift up your body when you send them ball, push that momentum and energy forward where you want it.”

Tsukishima relaxes his stance and moves his body the way that Daichi directs it. Daichi sends him the ball again and Tsukishima receives it, keeping Daichi’s pointers in mind. The ball travels far more confidently towards the setter’s position. Daichi is grinning proudly at him.

“See, I told you, you’ve improved. Not only have you become able to direct the path of the ball on your own, you’re also listening to the advice of your seniors more. You’re good at volleyball, Tsukishima.”

Tsukishima is hit with the urge to tell Daichi everything that he’s feeling, but he can’t bring himself to open his mouth. It’s too embarrassing to let himself feel weakness in front of a senior.

Daichi sighs. “Look, I know that you’ve reflected a lot on your performance during the Shiratorizawa match, because that’s the kind of guy you are. For you, volleyball is a mental game, much more so than it is for many of the people we play against. You think about things before you do them. You’re calculative, which is what makes you reflect far more harshly on yourself than you should. You played an amazing game out there. You improved _during_ the game, and yes, you may not have blocked as many spikes as you wanted to, but you were able to drive Ushijima into a corner using a mental game. You’re smart, Tsukishima. You came up with a way to defeat Ushijima and made it work.”

Tsukishima averts his eyes from Daichi’s face. “I could have blocked more if I’d figured it out sooner.”

“You’re fifteen,” Daichi says. “Ushijima is eighteen and has been playing for years longer than you have. There’s bound to be some differences in technique and skill. Same with Tendou. But you were able to help us win when the rest of us were backed into a corner, in spite of the odds. You were good, Tsukishima. In many ways, you played a better game than the most of the rest of us.”

Tsukishima sighs and has the strange feeling that he’s fighting off tears. He blinks a few times and adjusts his athletic glasses. “Thanks, Daichi. That’s, uh, what I needed to hear.”

Daichi grins broader. “What else are seniors for? Now help me clean up all these balls before the rest of the team shows up.”

**Author's Note:**

> There's not enough platonic relationship fics on here! Give me friendship dammit! 
> 
> Daichi is the best senpai and Tsukki needs some love. I got this request right after the Shiratorizawa match, so I decided not to put any of the events following it in. 
> 
> Thanks to my wonderful beta, [Annie](http://baking-bisexual-bitch.tumblr.com)!  
> Come visit me on tumblr at [brokuroo](http://brokuroo.tumblr.com)!


End file.
